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How many of you have seen the movie O Brother, Where Art
Thou? It is a whimsical retelling of Homer’s
Odyssey set in the 1930s Mississippi. Three hapless escaped convicts,
Everett, Pete, and Delmar, are hiding out
in the woods, running from the law. There they
encounter a procession of white-robed people going down to the lake to be
baptized. As the people move toward the water they sing,
“Let’s go down to the river and pray…”
As the baptism ceremony begins, Delmar is overwhelmed by the beauty and
mystery of this rite. He runs into the water and is baptized by the
minister. As he returns to his companions, he declares that he is now saved
and “neither God nor man’s got nothing on me now.” He explains that the
minister has told him that all his sins have been washed away. Even, he
says, when he stole the pig for which he’d been convicted. “But you said
you were innocent of that,” one of his fellow convicts exclaims.
“I lied,” he says, “and that’s been washed away too!”
Later the three convicts steal a hot pie from a window sill. The one
who felt that his sins had been washed away returns and places a dollar bill
on the window sill. Remember, this is 1930s Mississippi and a dollar bill
could really buy something!
Delmar wasn’t made perfect by his baptism any more than the rest of us are
made perfect by our baptism. But he was conscious that it was time for him
to make a new beginning.
During the sermon today, we are going to focus on the Sacrament of Baptism
and what that means for our lives, both as individuals and as members of the
Body of Christ, the church. To help us keep our focus on the Sacrament of
Baptism, I’m going to move beside the baptismal font. [Susan
moves to the baptismal font.] Later we will shift
our attention to the Lord’s Table when we celebrate the Sacrament of the
Lord’s Supper.
Most of us sitting here have been baptized. Some of us have been dunked,
immersed in water. Some
of us have been sprinkled, had water sprinkled or poured on our head. Actually, all of us who
have been baptized have had an easy time of it compared to those who were
baptized in the early church. Did you know that those folks went through a
three-year education process called catechesis
before they could be baptized? Everyone was baptized on Easter morning as a
symbol of rising with Christ and entering into a new life. They walked down
several steps into a pool of water and then walked up steps on the other
side where a white robe was placed upon their naked body. I doubt they took
their baptism for granted.
Our baptism marks one of the most sacred moments in our lives,
and in the church’s life. Baptism should not be confused with an
initiatory ceremony. We aren’t joining a fraternity or sorority or the
Kiwanis or the Rotary Club. We
are becoming a member of the Body of Christ. It is a most holy moment and a
moment that will mark us for the rest of our lives.
I particularly like the way The Message version of the Bible states
what “the voice” said as the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus,
”You are my son, chosen
and marked by my love, pride of my life.”
By the waters of baptism, we too are marked by love. When the waters
of baptism flow over us, we, or our parents for those of us baptized as
infants, are saying that God has a claim on us;
that we belong to God.
In the Old Testament scripture that Carolyn read today
from
Isaiah, we see God
making a similar claim about the people of Israel. God, or Yahweh as God
was known to the people of Israel, said: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed
you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”
For the people of Israel, this was monumental. I’ll spare
you the history lesson, but be aware that the people of Israel had been
taken by the Babylonians from the land to which they had been led after
their captivity in Egypt. Now they are about to return to that Promised
Land.
God said to the people of Israel: “You are marked by my
love." God said to Jesus: “You are marked by my love.”
God says to us: “You
are marked by my love.”
What does being washed by the waters of baptism, being
“marked
by love” mean? Does it mean we make recompense for our wrongdoings, as
Delmar did when he placed the dollar bill on the window sill for the pie he
and Everett and Pete had stolen?
Yes, it does!
Whenever we have wronged someone and there is some way to
“make up” for it, as people who have been washed by the waters of baptism…
as
people “marked by love”, we do just that.
Being washed by the waters of baptism isn’t just about making
up for the things we do wrong.
It is also about acknowledging and living out
in our lives what our baptism allows us to do.
Martin Luther is known to frequently have said out loud to
himself: “I am baptized.” He constantly needed to remind himself that he was a child of
God, washed by the waters of baptism, marked by love, God’s love. By reminding himself, he was able to be and do far more than
he otherwise would have.
What about us? What does being washed by the waters of
baptism, marked by love,
mean to us? I suspect if I asked each of you what it means to you to be
marked by love, you would have an answer. I think I know some of
those answers.
For one of you it means you were able to turn down a contract
that would have given your company additional profits. Because you have
been marked by love, you were able to tell the person who wanted a kickback
for giving you the contract to take a hike.
For some of you it means that you have faced the reality of
your addiction, whatever that addiction is…
alcohol, food, drugs, sex,
pornography, and are seeking the help and support you need. Others of you
are feeling the Spirit working in you, nudging you to seek that help and
support.
For some of you, being washed in the waters of baptism,
being
marked by love, has given you the strength and courage to face life ending
illness and disease, or stand by the side of someone who is.
Last week, Jim shared with those who gathered here for
worship some ideas for how we as a congregation might be able to go forward
over this next year, claiming our baptisms, showing how we have been marked
by love. Don’t worry. I’m not going to repeat what Jim said. I am going to
urge you, if you have not heard or read what Jim said, please do so. The
sermon was sent out this past Friday in our
News You Can Use e-mail
message. If you didn’t get a chance to read that e-mail, or don’t have
access to e-mail, there are some copies of the sermon at the welcome desk. Please take one. If you feel God calling you to respond to anything Jim
suggested in that sermon, I think you know what to do.
I want each one of us to fully grasp what it means to us, as
an individual and as a member of Christ’s church, to be marked by love. If
I thought it would be an encouraging thing, I would have each of you walk
past this baptismal font and I would pour some water over you head,
if that
would help you to claim what Martin Luther claimed when he said: “I am
baptized!”
In a few moments we will shift the focus from this baptismal
font to the Lord’s Table. We are able to participate in this glorious meal
because we have been washed in the waters of baptism,
we have been marked by
love. My hope is that as we eat the bread and drink the wine, we will
be nourished so that we can live as those God has claimed as God’s own…
as those who have been marked by
love! Amen. |
